Fiberboard



Sept. 28, 1937.

c. G. MUENcH 2,094,371

FIBERBOARD Filed Sept. 29, 1934 Patented Sept. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES FIBERBOARD Carl G. Muench,

New Orleans, La.

Application September 29, 1934, Serial No. 746,112

'1 Claims.

In the manufacture of ilber Aboard and particularly liber board of the type ordinarily referred to as i'lber insulation board, it has been usual that such products present only a plain uniform surface which is what might be termed non-decorative. These boards are ordinarily formed as a continuous sheet, felted from a dilute suspension of fiber, on a board machine. The surface of the product thus produced is monotonously similar, a. relatively uniform felted lfiber appearance.

It is the object of this inventionto produce a decorative felted :liber product produced as above, felted on a board machine from a dilute fiber suspension, but which `will produce when properly7 prepared a decorative product. 'I'he product produced in accordance with the invention hereof shows on a face a self decorative effect.

Briey, the effect referred to is achieved by rst forming which might be termed fiber strings, on

what are subsequently formed the fiber board so that the ber strings are embedded and integrally incorporated in the board at a face thereof. A board thus formed is not per se a decorative product but it comprises the base product which, with another operation thereon, becomes the n- .ished decorative product. The board with the fiber strings embedded in its face is run through a sander, or in other appropriate manner, a thin cut of fiber is removed from the face in which the fiber strings are embedded, and there then results the desired decorative material.

The inventions hereof are illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Eigure 1 is a perspective view of the product hereof showing the decorative effect obtained, and

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of an apparatus for forming the fiber strings with subsequent formation of ber board thereon.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, there will be rst briefly described the board machine on which the product is produced in connection 'with which the steps of formation thereof will be described.

The board machine illustrated in Figure 2 is a type of machine now used in the manufacture of ber insulation board. The head box I0 is supplied with a dilute suspension of liber from supply pipe II. The ber stock flows from head box I0 into machine chest I2, in connection with which, baiiles I3 and Il and rotary agitator I5 serve to smooth out the flow and maintain a uniform fiber suspension."

Across the mouth of the machine chest there (Cl. S32-39) are positioned mould rolls, the top roll being designated as I6 and the bottom roll as Il. It is of course understood that mould rolls I 6 and I1 are covered with wire screen, not shown, and that provision is made for necessary escape of white water, or the suspension Water from which the fibers have been filtered out in board formation.

In a board machine of the type above described, there must be provided seals to prevent leakage of stock between the mould rolls and the edges of the machine chest. The mold roll seals are shown at It and I9, and comprise strips of rubber, leather or other like flexible material. It will readily be seen that mold roll seals I8 and I9, being of flexible material, will be pressed against the surfaces of the mold rolls by the pressure of the stock in the machine chest and thus they serve to prevent leakage.

It has been found that if an auxiliary pond of fiber stock is maintained on what may be termed the Wrong side of the mould roll seal, in effect a pond of stock maintained on top of the machine chest, such stock can be formed onto the top mould roll before it passes the seal. An auxiliary stock pond is illustrated at 20 adjacent to top mould roll seal I9, the auxiliary pond being fed from stock pipe 2l.

As the sheet or lrn of liber formed on top mould roll It from auxiliary stock pond 20 is, of course, quite soft since there has been no action other than gravity sheet formation, such lm as it is carried down past mould roll seal I9 in the normal rotation of mould roll I6 is deformed, in fact such sheet is caused to roll up into numerous stringlike fibrous rolls as will be readily understood from a consideration of the effect of the motion of the surface of revolving mould roll I6 relative to stationary seal I9.

As the rolled up fiber strings are rolled out from under seal I9, fiber from the suspension in the machine chest immediately begins to felt out on the screen over such ber strings. As thev mould roll continues its rotation, ber will be deposited to considerable'depth over the mould roll surface, and as will be readily understood, there will emerge from between mould rolls I6 and I'l a more or less thick felted board dependent upon conditions of operation. The board produced tho will diier from ordinary board in that there will be thoroughly embedded and felted in one face thereof the liber strings formed from auxiliary stock pond 20.

` It will,-of course, .be understood that any desired grade or color of stock may be supplied to auxiliary stock pond 20, and that if desired, such pond may b e subdivided across the width of the machine with different stock supplied to the different subdivisions, and that other modifications of this general nature can be made as will be understood by the skilled operator.

Board produced as above described, is dried in any appropriate manner and then a surface cut is taken from that surface of the board in which the ber strings are embedded. It is, of course, understood that the surface cut may be made by passing the board through a sander, a planer or the like, and that such cut shall be such that it cuts well into the section of the ber strings. The nal product produced as above described is that of a ber board with distinct markings comprising the visible sections of the ber strings. The nal product produced as above described is that of a ber board with distinct markings comprising the visible sections of the ber strings, which according to the details of manufacture, form a contrast due to the differing arrangement of the ber in the ber strings, or the coloration thereof if a ber differing from the board ber was used for the auxiliary stock.

' tion.

The invention having been fully described above, I claim:

1. Fiber board comprising a substantially original uniformly felted main body portion, stringlike ber rolls embedded and felted into the main body portion adjacent a face thereof, the nished face thereof comprising a cut surface made up in part of longitudinal sections of such ber rolls.

2. A ber board having a surface made up of, in a. large part, heterogeneously felted ber, a portion of such surface comprising longitudinally sectioned sections of ber strands felted thereinto and composed of roughly parallel longitudinally arranged bers.

3. A ber board the major portion of which comprises heterogeneously felted ber, such board having included. integrally therein at a surface discontinuous and longitudinally sectioned groups of bers roughly stranded with the bers thereof lying in a generally parallel relation.

4. The method of forming a decorative ber board wherein a portion of the ber is caused to form strandlike groups having the bers thereof in a roughly parallel arrangement, the remainder of the ber then felted over and including such strandlike groups, the formed board then dried and the surface incorporating the ber strands subjected to a cutting action removing the originally formed face of the board for a depth less than the depth of the strands.

5. The method of formation of a ber sheet wherein a minor fraction of ber is felted out on a sheet forming wire and is subjected to the effect of relative motion of surfaces having the .effect of rolling such felted ber roughly into strand-like sections and subsequently the major fraction of ber is felted out of suspension on the same Wire over such strand-like sections whereby such strand-like sections are integrally incorporated in a face of the formed product.

6. The method of formation of a decorative vber sheet wherein there is formed on a felting wire roughlystranded discontinuous ber groups, in which groups the bers are in general parallel arrangement, a pulp sheet then felted over and incorporating at a face thereof the stranded ber groups, the complete pulp sheet then dried and nally the surface in which the stranded ber groups are incorporated removed to a depth sufficient to expose the incorporated stranded ber groups in longitudinal cross section.

7. A ber board comprising a felted main body portion having integrally incorporated and felted therein, at a surface, elongated groups of ber, the bers thereof being in an approximate of parallelism, the such ber board having had its original face, in which the string-like groups of ber are imbedded, removed to a depth to expose such elongated groups of ber as longitudinal section thereof, and thus forming a variegated surface.

CARL G. MUENCH. 

